Divergent Movie News: Beatrice Prior, or Tris, has been cast, and the winner is Shailene Woodley.

Okay, so I am going to really try to be in camp neutral about this casting choice. Know why? Because when they cast Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss I had a bit of a problem, and she managed to surprise us all. Blew us away. She is now one of my favorite actresses.

But..

Shailene Woodley... To be honest I think I am kind of indifferent to the casting choice. She is the main lead in a popular series called The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which doesn't help her case when it comes to me. She has also been cast as Mary Jane in Spiderman 2, so you have to give it to the girl. She has 2 big ticket items to be filmed. Poor girl is going against Emma Stone, and Emma is, well, Emma! Amazing actress... Oh wait I was talking about Shailene, right. Anyways here is a picture of our main lead in Divergent:

 

IMDB

Tris has a narrow face, grayish-blue eyes that are wide and round, and a long, thin nose. When she looks at herself, she sees someone who isn't pretty and that looks like a little girl with eyes and a nose that are too big. She has curly blonde hair that frames her face, a long neck, and knobby-knuckled hands. Christina tells her that she has striking features; even though they are not beautiful, they are interesting. Three flying birds are tattooed on her collarbone.                                                      
She is short, only reaching Four's shoulder. Tris says that her body is like a twelve-year-old's, and if she was taller, could be described as willowy, not childish. In Insurgent, Tris cuts her hair so that it reaches her jawline.

-Source

She is definitely pretty, sort of short? 5'6"? Does she have the acting skills to back it up? We'll see! Convince me girl, convince me.

I sincerely wish you luck Shailene, because we around these parts LOVE Tris. She is a great character, strong and brave. So, big shoes to fill.

This is Shailene's comments on accepting her role:

In an interview with MTV while at Sundance in Park City, Utah today, Woodley reveals she was initially uninterested in joining a big franchise. “I didn’t [read the book prior to auditioning]. I read the book – I thought it was really… my whole thing, to be honest, was that I never wanted to do big films. Especially one that was similar to Hunger Games or Twilight. Something with a huge fan base that would carry on for multiple years.”

Woah! Uninterested in a big franchise? Seriously? Then why did you take the job?

So why did she want to join it if she was so resistant to what Lionsgate is specifically telling investors will be the next Hunger Games or Twilight? “After reading the book I was really profoundly moved. [The book is] very metaphorical for things that are going on today. Specifically things that I’m passionate about, and things I want to make public, and things I want to educate people on. So I think it’s a really great platform.”

-Source, there's also a video of her interview here.

... and then she went on to say something about mind control and putting chips in babies and dogs. Oookay Shailene, I am sorry but this answer is either really weird or you just didn't have enough time to come up with something good on the spot. What exactly are you teaching people about anyways? The one teaching anything anyways would be the author... Weird but whatever, let's cast Four already!!